Mamie McGhee (1876 - 1960)

Born 10 Apr 1876 in Vonore, Monroe, Tennessee

Died 25 Aug 1960 at age 84 in Vonore, Monroe, Tennessee

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Kari Lemons [send private message]

Family

Parents:

John B McGhee and Sarah Adeline Harrison

Obit

Madisonville Democrat, (Monroe Co. TN)

Thursday, August 25, 1960

“Miss Mamye McGhee, Genealogist, Dies---Miss Mamye Sue McGhee, of Rt. 1, Vonore, a member of a long-illustrious East Tennessee family, died Sunday night at Serene Manor Hospital, Knoxville. She was 84.

Miss McGhee was a descendant of the first white settlers to make their home in the present Monroe County after the fall of Fort Loudoun. She had been in St. Mary’s Hospital and then Serene Manor since November. She was the last survivor of the family of John B. and Adeline Harrison McGhee. Miss McGhee owned and lived her entire life on the family McGhee Farm on which her father was born and on which her grandfather spent most of his life. The 500 acre tract is in Toqua community. Miss McGhee and a niece, Miss Ailene Howard, lived together.

The long-time Monroe Countian made a hobby of genealogy and had given much assistance to historians writing about early Tennessee times and families. She was a direct descendant of Col. David Henley, for whom Henley Street and Henley Bridge were named. Col. Charles M. McGhee, an early Knoxville capitalist who financed Lawson McGhee Library, was her great uncle. One great grandfather owned 15,000 acres in what are now East Tennessee and North Carolina.

Services were held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Toqua Presbyterian Church, Rt. 1, Vonore. Burial was in the McGhee Farm family cemetery.”

Remembrance

Madisonville Democrat, (Monroe Co. TN)

Thursday, September 8, 1960:

“Leaves From The Old Scrapbook---Although our dear, sweet, friend, Mamie Sue McGhee, had been in ill health since last November, to learn of her death which occurred at a Knoxville hospital Aug. 21, came as a great shock. Mamie Sue’s home was in the Toqua Community not far from the little city of Vonore, Tenn. It was this scribe’s privilege to have close acquaintanceship with Mamie Sue, a woman gentle, gracious and kind, with a heart of gold, dispensing with love, her marvelous gifts of understanding and sympathy. From a rare intelligence she gave generously and wisely her loving counsel. To the poor and needy she gave substantially. She will be so greatly missed.

Mamie Sue McGhee’s carefree, happy girlhood days were spent on the farmlands once owned by her great grandfather, pioneer John McGhee, the first white settler to build a home in “Overhill town sites.” This old home was known as the “Pioneer House,” built in 1821. It was the oldest home in Monroe County until it burned down the summer of 1956, and was the home of Bob and Rachel Carson. Pioneer John McGhee acquired some 15,000 acres of land on both sides of the Little Tennessee River extending beyond the North Carolina line on down to Morganton, Tennessee. After the death of Mamie Sue’s father, John McGhee II, she fell heir to some 500 acres of rich river bottom land and to the sweet old home where she lived at the time of her death.

Mamie Sue was known and respected for her keen insight in the management of her farm, even with dependable renters, she was the “over-seer” and nothing pleased her more than to see the rich soil turn its face to the sun. I don’t suppose there was a farmer in Monroe County who raised finger tobacco! And when the “golden leaves” were ready for market, Mamie Sue went right along to watch the sale of her tobacco which usually brought “top-notch” prices. Come this fall, when great truck loads of tobacco are being hauled to market, I’m sure this pretty, dark-haired and soft brown-eyed lady of culture and dignity will be so greatly missed by the tobacco auctioneers! Mamie Sue loved animals. If some baby lamb or little pig needed special attention, she would gather them up in her arms and bring them into her back yard and pretty soon they were growing strong and healthy.

I can think of no one so well versed in our county’s early history as she (perhaps the late Prof. H.L. Callahan). I know that if I was ever in doubt of a certain date or fact, she could always set me right. Mamie Sue possessed a keen sense of humor. She enjoyed many laughs over some incident that was told to her of the Civil War period. Her happy temperament and good humor coupled with a special talent for telling a good story made her a host of friends.

She was devoted to her family, her nieces and nephews, and they, in return, gave to their “Aunt Jack” (as she was affection ally called) so much love. Irene Ray, Boss (Ailene) Howard, Barney and Charlie Ray simply adored their good, kind aunt who was always so interested in their welfare. Boss, I am glad you plan to remain at the old home. I don’t suppose Barney Ray (who lives in Knoxville) ever missed a week visiting “Aunt Jack” and seeing that everything was alright “down on the farm.”

Mamie Sue loved her church, the beautiful and quaint little Presbyterian church located in the Toqua Community of which she was a long-time member, and attended regularly until the last few years. It was Oliver Wendell Holmes, I believe, who wrote “A good woman is said to resemble a Cremona fiddle, age but increases its worth and sweetens its tone.” In the last few weeks I have become one friend poorer, but I am richer for having known dear Mamie Sue McGhee.” ------Bess Stickley Hines.

Created by Kari Lemons, Wednesday, February 4, 2015.